Dark Lord Dumbledore - Volume 1 Chapter 58
Harry was not stupid enough to send Rita in to harass Dumbledore without taking any precautions. He had previously explained Dumbledore’s liberal use of Legilimency extensively to her and set a list of rules she was to follow at all times.
-She was not to be alone with Dumbledore, at any time, for any reason.
(The man would have her under compulsions so quick, she wouldn’t even realise it.)
-She was not to look directly into his eyes or even at his face.
(Voldemort could look through a turban on the back of Quirrell’s head to invade canon Harry’s mind from just a glance in his general direction.)
-Not to take off the necklace he had provided her when dealing with Dumbledore.
(Harry had yet to design a countermeasure to Legilimency and did not want his minions capable of Occlumency. He had, however, found a way to detect its use. Making a necklace glow when it discovered magic being cast near its user was child’s play. Unfortunately, that included any spell, not just Legilimency.)
-She was not to mention anything that exposed her employer’s plans or any involvement with Harry other than the time she met him in Diagon Alley!
The last rule was self-explanatory, since who would want their identity exposed when making yourself a target by discrediting powerful wizards? But as an added precaution, he had modified her mind in such a way, she thought she was in the employ of a rich Pureblood, not Harry himself.
Harry was not stupid enough to leave a link back to himself, and just like with everything else, used proxies to separate himself from his accomplishments/actions.
He couldn’t afford to be exposed when he was dealing with excitable idiots that had command over reality-bending magic! There were plenty of examples where wizards had overcome stupidity to be extremely dangerous!
It was the equivalent to being surprised when the cops showed up to arrest you for breaking into a house without gloves, cutting yourself on the window as you entered, spitting everywhere for fun, and then writing “HARRY WAS HERE” on the wall.
Rita Skeeter was not exactly stupid, short-sighted maybe, but not stupid outside of typical wizard idiocy. When an elf popped into existence before her, telling her to get to Hogwarts and to remember the rules for dealing with Dumbledore, she had taken it very seriously. Of course, this may have had something to do with her reprogramming.
Skeeter appeared in an empty room, and could only marvel at the audacity of her employer at robbing the most powerful wizard in the world. Not even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was willing to attempt such a feat!
She quickly made her way down the spiral staircase, the gargoyle at the bottom moving aside once she was close enough, much like an automatic door. Noticing the flamboyantly dressed Headmaster and the easily recognisable red robes of the Aurors down the hall, she went over to join them and get her latest scoop.
She was once again extremely grateful to her mysterious employer as he had catapulted her into a level of fame and fortune she had only dreamt of before! Not to mention she was now beautiful and continuously featured in Witch Weekly Magazine!
This was just another opportunity to increase her reputation. And if her benefactor’s plans came to fruition, a Lady of a Noble and Most Ancient House in the not so distant future! But it was best not to get ahead of herself, she had a job to do, and a powerful wizard to dethrone!
Hearing Dumbledore trying to make their conversation less public, she congratulated herself on her timing, especially when she noticed the crowd of students attempting to look inconspicuous while still trying their best to overhear what was being said.
“What’s the matter Dumbledore, are you trying to hide something? The public deserves to know the truth!” She shouted out, taking great pleasure in the audible groan from the Aurors.
Rita Skeeter had made them look like idiots to the entirety of Magical Britain, and they had all been ordered to be on their best behaviour when dealing with her.
Madam Bones herself took point in addressing Rita’s presence, totally oblivious that she was repeating a question recently aimed at herself for appearing at Hogwarts unannounced.
“May I ask why you are here, Ms Skeeter? This is an official investigation, and you are interfering with it.”
“Is it illegal for an investigative journalist to visit a government-provided institution? One that enforces mandatory attendance for every magical child and then suddenly demands the attention of the Head of the DMLE herself? Are you trying to cover up more corruption in the Ministry of Magic or just kidnap more children to steal their inheritance?” Skeeter deflected loudly.
Amelia Bones just stared back at her with her signature frosty look. Technically she could have Skeeter arrested or escorted off the premises, as no one could just rock up to a children’s school uninvited. There would be too many cases of what Skeeter had implied. Or worse…
But since Skeeter was already here and would print the story no matter what, it was better to keep her around and on a leash. Merlin forbid if the woman ran off to ruin what remained of the Auror’s reputation to her many followers.
“You can stay, but you print nothing on this story without my say so, as it could possibly destroy our efforts to catch those responsible. Otherwise, you will be detained and questioned about how you managed to respond nearly as quickly as we did to an emergency call.” Amelia stated, knowing the gossipmonger would agree.
The carrot and stick method worked every time and offering a journalist an exclusive opportunity, on what would be a huge story, was too good to resist. Also, Amelia didn’t like how shifty Dumbledore was being, and having Rita along would hopefully unnerve the man enough to expose something.
“Of course, Madam Bones. The Daily Prophet would never break the law just to get a story! I will submit my article to you for approval before we run it, we only want the best for the community, after all!” Rita said, her words seemingly dripping with honey.
“I don’t think it wise to have Ms Skeeter present for such an important matter, do you, Amelia? Her poisoned quill is not exactly known to report only the truth.” Dumbles tried to interject.
Bones turned her cold look back to Dumbledore and was pleased her earlier thoughts seemed to already be bearing fruit.
“Surely you would want as much exposure to this burglary as possible, Dumbledore? If the community is on the lookout for anyone selling your… let’s say ‘exotic’ robes, then we may catch them even quicker!”
Seeing Dumbledore’s left eye, visibly spasm, was the most fl.u.s.tered Amelia had ever seen the powerful wizard. He must be really having a bad day! She, like the rest of the wizarding world, had grown up with many stories of Dumbledore’s greatness, but her job had quickly revealed the man wasn’t perfect.
Many laws the ‘Leader of the Light’ and his supporters passed in the Wizengamot caused her department untold frustration. It had quickly disabused her of the hero worship that had been ingrained in her since childhood.
Oh, Amelia still thought he was the most powerful wizard since Merlin, she just didn’t look at the man with googly eyes like many of her new recruits did. The young rookie ‘call me’ Tonks being only the latest example.
“Come along Dumbledore, lets head back to what’s left of your office. You can write a list of everything that was stolen from Hogwarts. Other than the famous Magical Artifact that can turn worthless metal into gold and grant immortality, of course.” Bones said sardonically.
Hearing this juicy piece of information already had Rita Skeeter smiling like a cat that had caught the canary, and her quill flashed across the magically hovering parchment creating damning lines of text.
When they had all arrived back in the empty office that was now only decorated with twenty or so portraits, Amelia set Dumbledore to itemising what was stolen. Meanwhile, she listened to what the magical paintings had to say about what they witnessed.
While none of it would be able to be used in court, it would still help in identifying the perpetrators and building a case against them. There were still other magical means to utilise for actual proof in a court of law, even if portraits couldn’t be used as reliable witnesses.
Bones wasn’t liking what she was hearing from the 2D observers and was quite confident that neither would Fudge. The man was terrified of anything Death Eater related and would most likely deny any involvement of them out of hand.
“So you are saying, that the leader’s face was mutilated and that he used an unforgivable to kill Dumbledore’s Phoenix? And everyone else was wearing a mask and hooded robes?” Bones confirmed, intentionally not applying any labels to the culprits so her report would pass muster with the incompetent Minister of Magic.
Dumbledore interrupted before the magical painting of a decease Headmistress could confirm her statement for the Auror writing down the conversation.
“Really, Amelia, it is quite clear that the leader was Voldemort. Why do you keep tiptoeing around it? We should be preparing the public for his return, not burying our heads in the sand!”
Of course, this was a narrative that Dumbledore had to push to explain away any crime that could be traced back to him. Just like how Sirius Black being labelled Voldemort’s right-hand man was enough to jail him without evidence, Albus was hoping any inaccuracies would be attributed to Voldemort!
Like the fact, that Auror Blintley was teaching at Hogwarts and didn’t know anything about the third-floor corridor that was off-limits. He had obviously been obliviated by ‘Voldemort’ and then had compulsions put on him to go back to class and not interfere with the robbery!
Who was going to prove otherwise? Compulsions didn’t have a nametag for who cast them and magic didn’t have a signature! If it did, there would be no such thing as false imprisonment since each spell cast would be like a fingerprint, easily identifiable and unique to one person only!
The Aurors could only check a wand for the last few spells it had been used to cast, not who had used it. A prime example of this would be when Barty Jr used Harry’s wand to cast the Dark Mark above the Quidditch World Cup.
While Rita continued to furiously fill up sheets of parchment with news that would shock the magical community, ‘Professor’ Blintley was brought in to give his statement. What followed was pretty much the ‘Voldemort’ defence from Dumbledore while Amelia could only look at him with impotent fury.
She knew Dumbledore was guilty, but it would be hard to prove anything. Any baseless claims would only have Dumbledore’s many supporters denouncing her and shouting for her to step down as the head of the DMLE.
Looking over at Rita Skeeter sporting a wicked smile made Madame Bones quite thankful she had not sent the reporter away. For once, and she couldn’t believe she was thinking it, Amelia was glad the woman was going to be reporting on an Auror investigation.
Not only would she solely be able to print what Amelia let her, but she would also take the flack for her inevitable character assassination of the Leader of Light! If the Auror department couldn’t see justice done for Auror Blintley, then al least he will get the next best thing!
The small irritating smirk on Dumbledore’s face was soon wiped off, however, when Skeeter asked McGonagall on the protections put in place to defend the Philosopher’s Stone.
“I’m afraid that those involved were only allowed to have knowledge of their own defences. We were each given a floor to protect so that we would not know the entire security system in place to protect the Stone.” The Deputy Headmistress admitted.
Seeing Dumbledore’s face lose its smile, Amelia couldn’t help but internally thank the vicious woman whose articles had caused her endless headaches lately. It was time to investigate how the most sought after artifact in the world was protected in a children’s school.
Surely the students wouldn’t be in any danger from accidentally entering, as all it would take was an Age Line over the entrance to stop them!
